What Criteria do Teachers use for the Implementation of Work Placements? The Case of French Teachers in Industrial Fields.

Author(s):

Michaël Huchette(presenting)Michaël Huchette(presenting / submitting)

Conference:

ECER 2011

Network:

2. Vocational Education and Training (VETNET)

Format:

Paper

Session Information

02 SES 10 A, Stimulating Workplace Learning in VET: Collaboration, Cooperation, Partnership

Paper Session

Time:

2011-09-15

15:00-16:30

Room:

K 23/21,1 FL., 36

Chair:

Michael Gessler

Contribution

We aim to explore the criteria used by teachers of industrial technology for implementing work placements. What is a "good" environment for work placement? What are “good” training activities and a “good” subject for their report, coming from industry ? What Work process knowledge (Boreham, 2002) do they use for implementing the internships ?

Indeed, we are interested in the connection between technology courses and work experience in the vocational education of technicians for industry. And teaching staff has a central role: in France, teachers are responsible for both industrial technology courses and for organizing the interships (helping students in finding a firm, seeing them and their supervisor on the workplace, helping students in writing their report).

While the role of work experience is promoted and developped in the recent reforms of vocational education in France, some surveys have shown, however, difficulties in implementing them (Thienpont, 2009, Région Rhône-Alpes, 2003, Adigüzel, 2004) . Independently, some models of relationships between educational background and work experience are developped, such as the model of "connectivity" (Griffiths & Guile, 2003).

Considering these elements, we want to contribute to the reflexion for clarifying or redefining the role of french teachers for vocational education, in relation with the other professional actors. The results of this study should bring knowledge to progress in this project, especially about teachers' professional knowledge and about the feasability of implementing of internships.

Method

The method is a qualitative survey by semi-directive individual interviews with teams of teachers in two technological schools ("lycées technologiques") in the suburbs of Paris. One team consists of 5 teachers of mechanics and production engineering for the vocational education of technicians who design and build automation devices for the manufacturing industry. The other one is composed of 6 teachers of Civil Engineering for the vocational education of supervisory staff for building construction industry. The questions asked in the interviews are focused mainly on their idea of the ideal of a work placement, first as regards the technical system or the industrial process studied in their internship placement report, secondly as regards the internship environment. Some students internship reports, selected by teachers, were used as support for the interviews. The interviews were conducted to ensure that teachers give generic characteristics (criteria) of their ideal, but starting from actual "good" examples and from actual "bad" examples. These criteria are supposed to be supporting elements for decision making when following up students for their internship. The interviews were transcribed and they were subjected to content analysis, without prior classification criteria, enabling the emergence of categories of criteria.

Expected Outcomes

The first stage of the analyze (concerning only one teachers team) leads to the following results: (A) 4 categories of criteria emerge for defining an ideal of internship: the possibility of assessing students in accordance with the regulations of exam (the work placement report is assessed for exam), adequacy of the activities with the target-job of prepared exam, the formative nature on a technical level, and the formative nature about work process knowledge . (B) It also appears that all criteria can not be respected simultaneously in reality, from the experience of the teachers. That leads them to implement strategies, which gives more importance for some criteria. And each teachers do not favors the same one. These tensions have led to discussions within the team. (C) Teachers of the same team have a relatively homogeneous conception of target job and about work process. However the reinvestment of this knowledge in their teaching practice is different: the one gives a special importance on finding a factory which will permit activities corresponding with target job, the other give a special importance on writing the work placement report which should develop vocational communication skills (considered as key skills for the target job).

References

Thienpont, M. (2009). Exploration des problèmes liés à l'organisation des stages en formation de BTS. Master dissertation, Ecole Normale Supérieure de Cachan. Région Rhône-Alpes (2003). Les périodes de formation en entreprise. Pratiques d’encadrement des lycéens. http://media.education.gouv.fr/file/Partenariat_professionnel/29/2/RAenquete_113292.pdf (21/01/2011) Adigüzel, O.C. (2004). L’enseignement professionnel et sa relation avec le milieu du travail en France et en Turquie : le cas du génie civil. PhD, Ecole Normale Supérieure de Cachan. Griffiths, T. & Guile, D. (2003). A Connective Model of Learning: the implications for work process knowledge. European Educational Research Journal, 2-1, 56-73. Fischer, M. & Boreham, N. (2004). Work process knowledge: origins of the concept and current developpements. In M. Fischer, N. Boreham et B. Nyhan (Eds.), European perspectives on learning at work: the acquisition of work process knowledge (pp.12-55), CEDEFOP Reference Series ; 56.

Author Information

Michaël Huchette (presenting)

Université Paris Est Créteil

IUFM de Saint-Denis

SAINT-DENIS cedex

Michaël Huchette (presenting / submitting)

Université Paris Est Créteil & Ecole Normale Supérieure de Cachan Universud, France

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